Top 8 Tools for Building a Personal Prototyping Laboratory

For any beginners out there, here's a list of tools and equipment I have found to be important when building a personal prototyping laboratory, along with some of the mistakes I've made along the way.

When I first started to become involved with electronics, I realized that it would be important to invest in a set of tools that would help me build my projects. However, I had lots of questions about which tools to purchase and -- since I was on a limited budget -- which pieces of equipment should I acquire first.

So, for any beginners out there, the following is my list in order of what I have found to be important along with some of the mistakes I've made along the way:

A location: I would recommend first finding a place where you can put all your tools in a somewhat organized fashion. For quite some time, I made the mistake of trying to have things here and there around the house. I found that I would frequently misplace things and -- instead of spending time working on a project -- I would spend time looking for the tool that I needed. The location in your house does not need to be big, but should be a dedicated space.

A desk or a workbench: This is a fantastic addition. It does not need to be fancy -- it's a place to leave your projects in between your working sessions. I started out with a small card table that was approximately $30 from Walmart. I later upgraded to this workbench from Harbor Freight. (Actually, there are few Harbor Freight items that I would recommend, but this is one of them.) It has four integrated drawers and a hardwood top. I got it on sale for $106 delivered to my door, and it has proved to be a great upgrade.

A computer: How would you perform tasks like programming and PCB layout without a computer? This item is a must. It does not need to be dedicated to electronics design, but you can pick up a cheap laptop or desktop for around $300.

A breadboard: I personally have a very nice integrated breadboard that I was able to pick up for a very reasonable price (approximately $35) from eBay. This is the predecessor to the Global Specialties PB505. As you can tell, I got it for quite the discount. All I needed to do was repair a damaged potentiometer to get my eBay special working.

A soldering iron: I am not talking about one of those $10 Radio Shack "fire starters," but a real, temperature-controlled soldering iron. There are a lot of options out there (including this open-source device), but I would recommend saving up your pennies and getting a combination hot air rework station as well as soldering iron. I purchased the Aoyue 968, which has since been upgraded to the 968 A+. It was about $160 at the time. In fact, I have used the hot air rework station for reflowing my boards more than I have used the soldering iron side. This truly has been a workhorse in my lab.

Logic Analyzer: Diagnostic tools are a must. Before the oscilloscope, I would purchase a logic analyzer. I purchased the open source Open Bench Logic Sniffer for $50 and it has served me well. This tool has been great to be able to see if I am actually communicating what I want over my serial communication lines.

Oscilloscope: Once you have acquired all of the tools noted above, it really is well worth getting an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope is great for looking at issues that are harder to diagnose. It can help you identify issues with a serial communications signal, DAC outputs, and many other areas. The biggest problem is that there are so many choices -- where does one start?

Do you go for analog or digital? Will a $200, 10MHz USB scope do what you want it to do? For a starter oscilloscope, I would say that you can get what you need for 50 to $200. I was able to get an analog, 4-channel, 300MHz, Tek 2465 with two probes for $200. I had to do some eBay shopping to find it, but it has proved to be a very good scope for the money. Right now, I am looking to add a digital scope to my tool kit. For that one, I am looking at the Rigol DS2000 series. The nice thing about this series is that they have a gradient weighted display that makes the screen display the signals in a very similar manner as an analog scope. But they run 800 to $1600, so I am going to have to save up for this item.

Power Supply: All of the above and no power supply? Until now, I've been able to get by with simple "wall warts" and breadboard power supplies that had fixed voltages. I finally was given a dedicated, bench-top power supply by a friend. This power supply is an old analog, dual-output supply that can regulate both voltage and current. This may not be a necessity for many folks, but if the price is right it will make for a very nice addition to your laboratory.

So far, I have spent about $700 on my home electronics workshop. This cost excluded the cost of the computer as I already had one around that I use. Do I think that my workshop is complete? Can you ever have enough tools? Of course not! I do have a few things that are yet on my watch list. As I indicated, I am looking to purchase a DSO (digital sampling/storage oscilloscope), but I would also like to have an arbitrary waveform generator, a small reflow oven, and perhaps even a small pick-and-place machine.

One tool that I am very tempted to get is the new Red Pitaya that is on Kickstarter right now. My only hesitation is that it is only a 125Msp/sec (mega-samples per second) per channel device -- ideally I would like to have a 1Gsp/sec device. The nice thing though, despite the lower sampling rate, is that it has a 14-bit sample depth vs. the standard 8-bit sample depth on most DSO scopes.

Have I missed anything? I am always open to new tools for the workshop. Please let me know in the comments below (I'm sure my wife would appreciate it).

One crimper only works when you need one type of cable. If all you need is RJ's, life is easy. But when you start adding in Molex Mini-Fits, Micro-Fits, KK's, Sherlocks, TE Mate-N-Lock, D-Sub, JST, and more AND you need professional quality (which typically means $300-$1000 per crimper), then the cost of crimpers becomes significant.

Of course, minimizing the types of connectors helps, but then again, if your product has a whole bunch of indentical connectors, it's easier to screw up assembly.

I'll give Molex credit for the $300 Micro-Fit crimper: it's actually a good value, beautifully made in Sweden (just consider that Swedish-made diag cutters can run $70). OK, I still don't like crimping Micro-Fits, but at least it's only an occasional part of my job.

I got my breadboard and analog scope from Ebay. Some of the other things from Aliexpress. The workbench Igot from Harbor Freight. The tools that I purchase there tend to be things that I know are going to be low usage as they are more likely to break. I have found, though, their tool benches as well as their tool boxes are pretty good, especialy considering the price.

On a side note, I sent you an email a few weeks back on some measurement equipment questions, I was wondering if you happend to get it?

One day I will get there. I find that the more a tool gets misplaced, the more you end up with duplicates till you have enought of that tool that you will always have one handy. Channel locks tend to be ones that I have multiple copies of. Those tend to be very useful.

Where did you obtain your test equipment and soldering iron? Did you buy new or used? You mentioned Harbor Freight Tools. They have stores in my area and I'll keep them in mind next time I need a tool.

So very true. It is nice to have some order to the mess. Finding good bins that meet my needs has always been difficult. I have resorted to gettig fishing tackle boxes for some of my storage needs, but this is mostly for tools and such, not as much for components.

Like you said, having a good set of dev boards is a must. Now a days you can find them pretty cheap. I have boards from all the major ARM Cortex vendors and they all were pretty cheap. I have yet to make it through playing with all the different vendors, but I have played with a few of them. It is nice to be able to get something setup for under $15 and have things like gyros, accelerometers, and the ever necessary LED's.